Ghostland Observatory

An all time favorite band of mine, I was reminded of them when we watched the LCD Soundsystem documentary/ I think they have pretty similar techno pop sounds.

Here is a sampler of my favorites:

First, the "cities"

Silver City (top 5 favorite songs of all time)



The main refrain:

Well, I don't come from the city,
I came here on the train,
In search of something pretty,
It's my heart I have to blame.

The american dream? A beautiful girl? I don't know what their chasing, all I know is that I don't ever want them to find it so that this song can go on forever.


Their most popular song, Sad Sad City



Give me the Beat




And somehow one of their less popular songs, Time




I don't really know why, but I will always be inclined toward techno/ electronic music, and Ghostland Observatory always hits the spot. Even though all of their music is full of funky keyboard and electronic sounds, I still think they maintain a good amount of diversity in their music to keep everything from sounding the same/ keep it fresh and interesting.

LCD Soundsystem

I LOVE LCD Soundsystem/ was real pumped to find out we were watching a taping of a LCD concert in class.

First and foremost, "I Can Change" is the shit I do like.



First of all, this song is catchy as hell: decently repetitive lyrics and upbeat pop-y music make this song impossible not to love. Secondly, James Murphy hits some real crazy high notes in this song, and I'm like, you go James Murphy, do your thing!

"Tribulations" is also my jam



Once again, a real funky techno beat to fist pump/ jump around to. This is actually the first LCD Soundsytem song I knew, and I had it on repeat on my lil' ipod shuffle for weeks.

I also really like Dance Yrself Clean, however, the build up is real long.



Well first of all, the whole song is like 9 minutes long, so that's already a whole lot of listening. Although the build up is long, there is some really nice harmonies and I like the real basic drum beat. But then, when the techno-fied jams come in full force around 3:08 or so, things get real crazy awesome & I love it.

The Shins

RIYL: Broken Bells, Edward Sharpe

The Shins are like a comfort-food band: always reliable to play for any audience or mood. And while I'm always down for that, I get a lil' tired of listening to them after a few tracks, but I'm picky and prefer faster-paced music so that's just me.

My all time favorite: Australia



How happy and soothing is that. Very Edward Sharpe-esque. However I have pretty much 0.00 idea what the lyrics are supposed to mean:

A dual tone under wall
The selfless fool who hoped he'd save us all
He never dreamt of such sterile hands,
You keep them folded in your lap,
Or raise them up to beg for scraps,
You know, he's holding you down,
With the tips of his fingers just the same,
Will you be pulled from the ocean,
But just a minute too late,
Or changed by a potion,
And find a handsome young mate,
For you to love.


The man is oppressing us? Love is cruel? There's a big man with fingers? I don't know!

Here are some more of my faves:



"The Simple Song" Aptly named. Still catchy and nice though.







Okay, and I'm pretty sure this one came directly off of a Broken Bells Album:



In conclusion, an easy listen, but nonetheless, enjoyable.

Beastie Boys

So, I struggle with how I feel about Beastie Boys. Sometimes I'm like this is super cool and different and such a unique sounds. And other times I think it's straight racket/ clashing sounds and I hate it so much. Another problem I have with the Beastie Boys is that I don't care for the voice of the lead singer/rapper/ whatever you want to call it. I feel like he is intentionally speaking obnoxiously and I'm just like stoooop. I get a Natalie Portman rap feel from them, and I feel like they are almost being intentionally annoying.

For instance, wtf is going on in this music video



However, one thing that saves the Beastie Boys for me is that I am a big fan of sampling/ remixing (as I expressed in my last post), and I think their work is revolutionary in the sampling sense. Even though some songs I'm pretty sure are just straight samples from other artists played back to back, overall, I think they do a pretty impressive job meshing sounds and making them their own.

My fav Beastie Boys song from Paul's Boutique is easily Car Thief



It reminds me of Girl Talk in the way that there is some slower songs playing in the background mixed with some faster beats and add-on techno/ DJ noises.

Anyways, Beastie Boys typically just bothers me, but I do like a few select tracks.

Remix City

I can't think of a specific artist I'm listening to right now besides JT who I just blogged about, so instead this blog is just going to be a compilation of my current favorite remixes. So basically, if I were a DJ, this would be what I would be throwing at you at your next club outing. Enjoy:

So, usually I don't get dubstep, think it sounds like a robot taking a shit, but every now and then I'm like okay, alright, this is pretty cool.

Sleepless (Loadstar Remix) -Excision


Okay, this next one is the "Original Don" Flosstradamus remix. This is the ish I do like. However it's not really the same unless you have it PUMPING out your speakers/ the addition of a strobe light or something crazy.



Then, pretty much the entire Project X soundtrack is awesome remixes, but this one is easily the best:

Kid Cudi - Pursuit of Happiness (Steve Aoki Remix)



Speaking of Ratatat in that last mix, here's another with Biggie Smalls I love:



Also, I really like all of AVICII's mixes, I saw AVICII at ACL this past year and it was party city.







Anyways, I can be really into club-type mixes and jams, or I can really hate them. It's pretty hit or miss.

Joe Cocker

I gotta say, that SNL skit we watched in class with John Belushi actually broke my heart/ I felt so terribly for him. I mean, I know it was his fault for basically self-distructing himself with drugs and alcohol, but oh man that was just so brutal and sad.

I found this video when youtubin him and I thought this was precious:



He looks a million times better than he did on SNL, which is so depressing considering he was several decades younger then. But look at him go now! He's an allstar! YOU GO, JOE.

Also, I found this, which is pretty sad. It's a bad-lip-reading/ hearing interpretation of his song because well...hes's not super articulate.



Anyways, I love the song 'You are so Beautiful"



First of all, holy smokes, he is so sweaty/ ruining the romantic vibe of this song a little bit. But oh man, I LOVE this song. You could pretty much play this in any sappy movie and I would cry like a little baby. This song is so unlike his other works, so soft and sweet, & I am still a big sucker for how precious I think he is now that he is old and partially recovered.

Anywhoo, Joe Cocker breaks my heart, however I really like his sound and appreciate his versatility.

Haley Reinhart

So, apparently Reinhart was recently on American idol/ got 3rd place. But let's be honest, who watches American idol anymore.

Anyways, I first heard about her when I heard her cover of "Bennie and the Jets". And I was obsessed for like a week. Her voice is so smooth and different and I can't get enough.



It's also sung in such a different style from the original version, much slower and focused on the lyrics/ singing. I mean maybe it is weird for me to say this, but her voice is incredibly sexy/ alluring. Like siren material. I would steer my ship her way, that's all I'm saying.

She reminds me a bit of Duffy, in that kind of high/ scratchy/ cabaret sound.



Her voice is so hot, I can't even handle it, this is ridiculous. That real pop-y B.O.B. comes in and raps or whatever and that's okay I suppose, I just am waiting for the song to get to Haley the entire time he talks.


Here's another track I liked called "Liar", it's real angsty, and I love me some angst.



I also get a bit of an Adele vibe in this song, with the whole love angst, and her voice even has some similar inflections.

Anyways, it's nice to see an American Idol contestant actually doing something with their career, you go girl.